The World Bank and the UN Want a Bailout Too

Just when you thought that you had seen everything, here come the World Bank and the United Nations to claim their slice of the government bailout pie. According to the Times Online, “The UN and the World Bank are lobbying for a portion of the billions of dollars allocated to bailing out the West’s banking systems to be diverted to prevent 400 million people sinking into poverty across Asia in the wake of the global economic crisis.” All the world has to do is allocate some 1 percent of their bailout packages (between $5 and $8 billion in the case of the most recent U.S. stimulus package) to the noble stewards of the Bank and the UN.

Whatever could go wrong?

In the case of the U.N., how about:

The Iraqi Oil-for-Food scandal that Saddam Hussein used to generate over $10 billion in illegal revenue, according to the U.S. Government Accountability Office;

As for the World Bank, this article by Fox News is a damning indictment of how the Bank can be used by unscrupulous politicians to advance their personal interests at the expense of the Bank’s reputation and the hard-earned taxpayer dollars that fund the organization.

Reportedly, Secretary-General Ban Ki Moon and World Bank President Robert Zoellick will be pushing for this fund in the upcoming G-20 summit. Can they seriously think that developed countries should entrust one cent, much less 1 percent of their economic stimulus expenditures, to institutions so demonstrably vulnerable to manipulation, corruption and fraud? Yes they can.

Brett D. Schaefer is the Jay Kingham fellow in International Regulatory Affairs at The Heritage Foundation. Schaefer analyzes a broad range of foreign policy issues, focusing primarily on international organizations and sub-Saharan Africa. Read his research.

Join The Discussion

Given the UN's track record in managing anything, my advise is to tell them to vacate the premises! the UN is entitled to nothing nor is the World Bank. It's bad enough that we, the US Taxpayer will be driven into poverty by this "Stimulus Bill", why should the US taxpayer be saddled with the rest of the world? Let the Governments of the World come up with their own "Stimulus Packages" to cover their own people.

As for the starving people in Asia, maybe they should ask their "Comrades" for help! Cruel, yes, but America has its own problems at this time. We will be in no shape to help the World out any longer. Of course, this means the Left will simply allocate billions of "feel good" money and we, the American Taxpayer, will foot the bill!

The USA has been supporting the entire world since WWII, buying the leadership of the world with taxpayers $ and has reaped nothing but hatred for its generosity. Time to force all recipients of our largesse to stand on their own two feet.

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